Season over: Ridge View sanctions upheld, team has to forfeit its wins from 2022
Ridge View’s football season is officially over.
The South Carolina High School League’s appellate panel voted 6-0 on Monday to uphold previous decisions that included sanctions against the football program. Those penalties — levied after an investigation said it found the team played games with three ineligible players — included forfeiting eight victories and a fine of $500.
Monday’s outcome means the Class 4A playoff bracket that was released over the weekend will not change. That schedule was set without the Blazers’ inclusion.
Ridge View ended the season Friday night with a 31-22 loss to A.C. Flora. The Blazers were considered among the top teams in Class 4A and had an 8-2 overall record before factoring in the sanctions’ forfeits.
“I think the South Carolina High School League office kind of loses focus of young people,” said Bakari Sellers, one of the attorneys representing the players. “Here, you have three young men, great kids, great athletes trying to do the right thing, and they weren’t given any grace.”
Sellers and two other attorneys from the Strom Law Firm represented the three players. They were joined at Monday’s hearing by Ridge View head coach Derek Howard and other school leaders.
An SCHSL executive committee meeting on Friday revealed that Richland 2, which is Ridge View’s school district, submitted their own findings to the league two days earlier that said the Blazers had played with ineligible players. According to testimony from a Richland 2 representative at Monday’s hearing, the district’s investigation began on Sept. 23. The findings prompted the sanctions and the appeals process.
“I think everything that was presented to them led them to believe that what was submitted was substantial enough,” S.C. High School League commissioner Jerome Singleton said of the appellate panel. “We dealt with it as such and the same evidence that was presented to the executive committee and appellate panel. They both saw it the same way.”
It was revealed in Monday testimony that input from Blythewood High School leadership is what prompted the district investigation. Blythewood is a fellow Richland 2 school and one of Ridge View’s main rivals in athletics.
It was also brought up Monday that Richland 2 said its own investigation was inconclusive..
In a statement provided to The State, Richland 2 said the students in question “met the district’s enrollment guidelines, which require three proofs of residency.” But, “the SCHSL’s ‘bona-fide change of residence’ is separate and apart from the district’s enrollment guidelines. While a new student may be properly enrolled in a school/school district, he/she must meet the League’s ‘bona-fide change of residence’ definition to be eligible to participate in sports.”
The statement continued: “District administrators could not conclude with complete certainty that the change in residency met the SCSHL’s definition of ‘bona-fide change of residency.’ Therefore, the matter was forwarded to the SCHSL for further review.”
The lack of a conclusion was one of the key factors debated during Monday’s hearing.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Sellers said. “You have rivals who complain who go to the district. You have private investigators, hired by the district, and no one is talking to the parents. They come in with inconclusive reports and basically canceled Ridge View’s season because Blythewood was upset and complained with no basis.”
Monday’s appellate panel session was broken down into two separate hearings, with the first regarding starting quarterback Donald Tomlin, who transferred to Ridge View from Heathwood Hall for his senior season.
The debate in Tomlin’s case centered around whether his family actually moved to live full-time within the Richland 2 attendance zone.
The Tomlins, Ridge View and the attorneys cited utility bills among their argument that the family’s move was a bonafide change of address. Richland 2, in testimony Monday, said it used a private investigator who’s employed by the school district as part of its investigation.
The six-member appellate panel quizzed the Ridge View contingent on such things as how the school confirms the validity of a transfer’s new address. They also questioned how Richland 2 conducted its investigation and discussed the notion that the results were deemed inconclusive.
“I’m not so sure people went to any length to prove no doubt,” one panel member said.
In the end, the appellate panel voted unanimously in Tomlin’s case to uphold the executive committee’s decision to keep the sanctions against Ridge View in place.
“It is a residency issue and there is no doubt they live there. We were able to prove bills, documents,” Sellers said. “This committee didn’t really give the voice of the young men any prudence, and it is sad because they didn’t get any grace.”
The remaining Ridge View players in the investigation were not named. In a second hearing regarding their status, the appellate panel also voted 6-0 to uphold the executive committee’s decision.
Ridge View athletic director Brian Rosefield, in a post made to the Blazers’ athletic site Monday afternoon, said: “This past week has been extremely challenging for everyone at Ridge View, but it’s been especially challenging for our football players (and many of our other student-athletes). I cannot express in words how pleased I am at how they have handled these challenges, and I’ve told many of them that they are experiencing grown-up challenges as high school students. And they have handled these challenges beautifully.”
After the verdicts, some players from Ridge View took to social media lamenting the situation and that their season is over.
“But once ridgeview starts to make history all eyes on us now ight … messed up a whole kids dream man,” Ridge View senior receiver Zion Agnew posted to social media shortly after the decision was announced.
Said Ridge View senior receiver Adonis McDaniel via Twitter: “All I wanted to do was ball ... Its not way they just took my senior season away from me like that Dawg. I worked to hard for dis. Its bigger than football I was doing this for my family man.”
This story was originally published October 31, 2022 at 11:47 AM.
